Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Hollis Thompson & Chris Wright:
Dwight Hardy waited at the top of the circle with time running down, the shot clock off and his St. John's team trailing by one.
Looking directly at Georgetown's long-armed junior guard Jason Clark, who had placed the Hoyas in front with a pair of free throws after controlling an offensive rebound under his own basket with :23 left in the second half, Hardy made his move.
Attacking to his right, Hardy dusted Clark and went up for a layup that had to be adjusted high off the glass as two Georgetown defenders soared across the lane to attempt a block.
The ball sailed well above the rim and deflected at a perfect angle off the glass to a now-unattended Justin Brownlee on the other side of the iron.
Brownlee laid the ball home with 10 seconds left, the last of eight lead changes in the final eight minutes, then blocked an Austin Freeman jumper off the right wing at the other end of the floor that could have given the game to the Hoyas.
Clark tracked down his teammate's miss with three seconds remaining, but his foot was on the baseline.
Hardy finished a 10-10 night at the free throw line with two more from the stripe to give St. John's their third straight Big East victory, 61-58 at Madison Square Garden over Georgetown.
After an 11-1 start, the Hoyas have dropped two of three in conference.
On an evening where The Committee - Georgetown's backcourt of Freeman, Clark and Chris Wright - combined to shoot a poor 7-25 from the floor and a worse 2-13 from three, Georgetown forward Hollis Thompson was the team's only player in double figures. Thompson had 16 points on 6-10 shooting.
Hardy led all scorers with 20, one of three Saint John's starters to play all 40 minutes.
